Protecting Our
Native Plant
Communities &
Regional Wildlife

What is the Palouse Prairie?

In simple terms, the Palouse Prairie is a region that historically had short, cool season bunchgrasses with a high diversity of forbs or wildflowers and shrubs. The word ‘Pelus’ has both Palus Indian and French origins with a ‘sea of grass’ or ’grassland plains’ meaning. To define the size of the region is difficult. As Daubenmire, a renowned Palouse Prairie botanist, states ‘In my opinion, an attempt to formulate a definition of ‘Palouse’ that is meaningful to science is futile’ (Caldwell 1961).